Too many things have happened within the last 28 hours for me to write about all of them in this post, for which I apologize. So here's what we'll do. I'll tell you about the Opening Ceremonies festivities and this afternoon in this post, and we'll save MY FIRST OLYMPIC EVENT for tomorrow. If it helps, you can pretend that we're just taking a very long tea break in between posts. I would suggest actually making yourself a cup of tea to pass the time. Or, you know, watching the Olympics. Whatever floats your boat.
Let's begin where we left off yesterday. We were joined in the afternoon by Cindy, a good friend of Suzanne and Daniel's (and at one point, my first employer), and we all made some delicious homemade pizza with the 100 million vegetables that I brought back from Borough Market:
Then we took off for the local park, where the Opening Ceremonies were to be shown on a gigantic screen. It seemed to be The Thing To Do, and people were planning picnics and bringing booze and such. We arrived at 9pm on the dot, and lo and behold, the park was jam-packed and would not admit a single extra person. So we hightailed it back to the flat to watch there. This turned out to be an even better Thing To Do, as we made Pimm's Cups (a classic British cocktail) and sat on the couch to enjoy the show.
And what a show it was! We missed the very beginning (the bit with the livestock, as I understand), but switched on in time for the really cool melding of the rings in the sky. Things only got better from there. [I'll take a moment to add that I'm assuming you've seen the Opening Ceremonies. If you haven't, shame on you. Go watch them on youtube or something before you read this.] Since we all saw the same performance, more or less, I'll just tell you my favorites, in order of preference:
1. Rowan Atkinson, the London Symphony Orchestra, and Chariots of Fire. This was probably the funniest thing I have seen in a very long time.
2. James Bond and the Queen 'parachuting' into the Olympic Stadium.
3. The copper buckets that turned into the super awesome Olympic Torch (it gave me chills).
4. Gigantic Lord Voldemort, J.K Rowling reading, Mary Poppins, adorable children, and actual NHS professionals dancing (the prediction was right! more or less).
5. The fireworks.
Normally, I find fireworks boring. But guess what? Those fireworks were visible from the flat.
This is without zoom; exactly how we saw them from the flat.
And this is because I like to brag about how great my camera lens is.
As we were out on the balcony taking pictures, many people in the general neighborhood cheered throughout the fireworks, and we joined in. The sense of national pride here is understandably palpable and rather beautiful, I think; it's hard not to be swept up in all of the excitement for Team GB here!
A few final random thoughts: I believe that Team USA looked almost too preppy for their own good, but certainly nicely put-together, the Italians looked fabulous as always, the Independent Athletes looked like the happiest and most fun people in the stadium (not counting the Queen, of course), and whichever team it was that came prepared with the bright blue wellies and umbrellas (and, thank goodness, didn't need them) won my personal award for most cleverly dressed.
The Ceremonies ended at something like 12:30 am (sooo glad we stayed in the flat), but I was too keyed up to sleep. So then I was up until 3 am. Oops. (I'll be up until at least 2 am working on this abbreviated blog post, so I guess this isn't much better. Also, you're welcome.) Consequently, I slept until noon, at which point we all had brunch before heading out to Broadway Market in East London.
Along the way, we passed a lovely museum 'round the corner from the flat that was once a poorhouse and is now a museum of home and garden design throughout the centuries.
An essential element of any British home, regardless of century: a tea set!
So we went to Broadway Market, and bought a few more tasty things, but really only a few, because the fridge is filled to capacity from the Borough Market extravaganza. We then took a scenic detour through London Fields park:
And proceeded to walk for 45 minutes through all sorts of strange backstreets until we arrived at a store that sold a very particular sort of haircolor (hint: it's bright blue) which Daniel required for proper self-decoration in honor of the Games.
Here, my friends, I must leave you, for it is nearly 2 am and I have to get up in the morning to do things and such. But I solemnly promise to tell you all about the event—you may have even watched it, a little something called the Men's Artistic Gymnastics Qualifier?—sometime tomorrow. Until then, dear readers, I leave you with this, as I think the Queen ought to have the last word:
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